Why small business owners misunderstand their biggest cyber risks

Many small business leaders think cloud-based systems are immune to outages, but that’s a dangerous misconception. Karin Fields, founder and CEO of Amidot, argues that this misunderstanding puts daily operations at risk, according to a contributed article on ChannelPro Network.

Fields shares a story about a CFO who believed his cloud accounting system couldn’t go down just because it was hosted in the cloud. When asked who he would call if stolen credentials gave an attacker control, he had no answer. It’s a common blind spot for owners who assume the provider handles everything.

The real issue isn’t the technology itself, but how you define risk. Fields says you need to expand cybersecurity discussions beyond your IT team. Bring in business leaders who can decide on risk tolerance and acceptable downtime. If you don’t talk about money, you won’t prioritize the right fixes.

Start by asking what a three-day outage would cost your business. Identify which systems must be operational by Monday morning to keep the shop running. Determine which third-party disruptions would cause the most damage. These questions shift the conversation from tools to actual business survival.

Most owners wait for a breach to care about this. Do the boring version of this today. Pick one critical system and ask who controls it if the password is stolen. It’s not about buying more software. It’s about knowing who to call when the screen goes black. That’s how you protect your bottom line.

Sources: channele2e.com.